When religious crisis nearly consumed Oyo community over festival

A peaceful community in Oyo state was nearly caught in the web of religious fracas following the observance of a religious festival by adherents of African tradition as against the wishes of an Islamic group. BAYO AGBOOLA writes on the crisis.

There is no doubt in the fact that uneasy calm nearly reigned in the ancient town of Iseyin in Oyo state over the planned celebration of the 2019 annual Oro festival. This was by the persistent hues and cries over the 17 day-curfew demanded by the Oro festival adherents for this year celebration which Blueprint gathered ended recently.
Oro festival celebration in Iseyin according to some indigenes of the town is as old as the town itself going by the historical facts surrounding the founding of Iseyin as a prominent town in Yoruba land.
How it nearly started
The controversy over the celebration of this year’s annual festival reared its head when an Islamic body in the town under the auspices of League of Imams and Alfas, Iseyin chapter, headed for the court to seek an injunction to stop the celebration of the festival which was expected to kick off on Sunday, September 22 in the town during which women, in particular, are not expected to be seen in the public as they are forbidden from seeing or sighting an Oro.
The Muslim group was said to have served the traditional ruler of the town, the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba AbduGaniyu Adekunle, the traditional Council of Iseyin local government and leader of the Oro sect in Iseyin with the court summons as respondents.
Muslim group’s reaction
The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) on its part in a statement by its publicity secretary, Maruf Mustapha, warned against the 17-day movement restriction for this year’s festival, saying, such a celebration impugned on the rights of the people in the area to go about their lawful duties without hindrances and also had the tendency for adherents to resort to violence and maim other members of the society as witnessed in the preceding years.
Group sought governor’s intervention
Following this, a socio-political interest group in Iseyin, ‘Ebedi Frontliners’ on sensing the looming crisis over the planned celebration of this year’s Oro festival in a letter to Governor Seyi Makinde raised alarm on what it called ‘a looming religious crisis’ in the town asking the governor to intervene before it would be too late.
The socio-political group in the letter urged Governor Makinde to urgently intervene in what it termed a brewing religious crisis in Iseyin town before it results in killings and vandalisation of properties.

According to the letter by the group through its publicity director, Mr Segun Fasasi, “The group heard that the Islamic sect had gone to court to seek an injunction to stop the celebration of the Oro festival and that the move could create crisis in the peaceful community.
It stated further that, “Members of Ebedi Frontliners urged the governor to look into the case and put all security agencies on the alert to avert a possible breakdown of law and order.”
Amidst all this, the traditional worshippers in Iseyin local government area chapter of the state on had recently directed the Oro deity worshippers to go ahead with their planned 17-day festivities slated to start last week Sunday September 22. 
The traditionalists justify festival
The Traditional Religions Worshippers’ Association of Nigeria, in a statement signed by Chief Oloyede Orogbensola, while declaring that there was no legal pronouncement stopping the festival, accused the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Iseyin chapter of being intolerant of other religions.
Orogbensola called on the state government and members of the public to ignore what he called, “the tissue of lies and misinformation being spread by the NSCIA that Oro worshippers were violent and had been disturbing the peace of the town over the years.” He said the Islamic group also misrepresented facts when it claimed that Oro was started in Iseyin in 1930.According to Chief Orogbensola, “Iseyin was founded by an Ife prince, Ogbolu, with the help of Oro and Ifa deities and that Oro had been synonymous with Iseyin for hundreds of years. He stressed that the significance of the festival is that it is being conducted annually for the spiritual cleansing of Iseyin land.
Chief Orogbenla maintained that despite the alleged unprovoked attacks on Oro worshippers by the Muslim groups, the festival would go ahead as planned on that date because there was no legal restraint against the annual festival.
The traditionalists added that the claim by the Muslim group that the festival would last for 17 days was another attempt at exaggeration and blackmail. He said that only be for two of those days- the seventh day and the 17th day that women would be banned from seeing the masquerades while other days were mainly for festivities.
“Over the years, some Muslim adherents had become used to ambushing Oro masqueraders and unleashing terror on them. They carry out similar attacks on other traditional worshippers and after such attacks, they would turn on us to arrest and harass our members with the police. In all these, we have continued to stomach the hurt in order not to ridicule Iseyin because we cherish our town and its image,” Orogbensola said.
He added, “This time round, the intolerant Muslim groups through the League of Imams and Alfas in Iseyin, sued the Aseyin of Iseyinland and 16 others, all traditional worshippers. To add salt to injury, they are using their influence in the media to sell lies to unsuspecting public by painting Oro worshippers in negative light.”
“We deem it fit to set the records straight that at no time in 2018 or at any other period did Oro worshippers attack Muslims in Iseyin. We have always been at the receiving ends of the violence. It must also be clarified that all the allegations by the NSCIA were outright lies. It is our view that this falsehood and deep-seated misinformation is anathema to peace and harmony in Nigeria, a secular state. We urge the Oyo state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, to disregard the attempts to blackmail us and portray us in bad light while giving him the highest assurance of our commitment to peace and religious harmony,” the statement reads in part.”